Liberal California columnist Joe Matthews just wrote his typical “mo’ money” column. Already Joe is unhappy that, according to him, “only” four billion dollars of Prop 15 loot will end up going for education. He wants a breathtaking FIFTY billion for education — money coming from totally “reforming” (actually gutting) Prop 13. But he never explains why we need more education spending.

https://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2020/10/what-our-split-roll-obsession-has-cost-us/

Do you know the name Tommy Devito? Sure, you do. He was a founding member and lead guitarist of the Four Seasons. He was in the group before Frankie Valli. He died September 21st. If you every saw Jersey Boys, you know Tommy did not live the life of a monk. It is quite fascinating that he was able to make it to the age of 92. His cause of death: COVID-19. That was quite illuminating to read. One would think after his life and at his age something else was going on there, particularly at age 92. It made me think if Keith Richards were to die, it would be declared from (you guessed it) COVID-19.

Yes, the numbers are engineered to make things look worse than they are. Dr. Birx stated early on that if any person who tested positive from COVID-19 at the time of their death, REGARDLESS of whatever other diseases or illnesses they had, would be added to the death toll. Now they just want to gin up the totals. Last time I saw figures, 50 colleges had just short of 70,000 people diagnosed as having COVID. The number hospitalized had jumped to three.

Yes, like when FDR told us not to fear, Trump stated we should not fear COVID. He was not only right; he was acting like a… Read More

The history of government in this world tilts almost totally towards authoritarianism. A free society is the exception, authoritarianism is the rule.

People, driven by fear, are often willing to give up their freedom for protection from some amorphous, imagined, unseen or even perceived evil, and there is usually someone in government willing to capitalize on that fear to consolidate their power. In a constitutional Republic, those in position of government authority need more than just the bald assertion of power to institute an authoritarian government. Throughout history, authoritarians have used many excuses to displace the legislative process and consolidate power, and many have used an emergency as a reason to displace constitutional processes, because those processes “are just too slow” to deal with the effects of the emergency. If a political officeholder has authoritarian tendencies, any excuse will do. That is why the exercise of emergency powers in a free society must be strictly limited in scope and in time. The potential for abuse of freedom is just too great.

Which leads to the discussion of the corona virus responses by our… Read More

I can’t find a definitive study or conclusion about the effect of the coronavirus on the lost life expectancy of the people who die. It’s something that is NOT being mentioned or considered by the press or pundits. One early study claiming that the coronavirus cut 10 years off the average infected dead person’s life has been totally debunked. But my searching finds nothing else so far.

I would think that this factor should be an important consideration. We know that the OVERWHELMING majority of COVID-19 deaths are very senior people who usually had other major health problems and a limited life span to begin with. But beyond that general observation, nobody seems to be studying the longevity factor.

As is my wont, I’ve been digging around on the CDC website. I found some bizarre figures on the TOTAL national weekly “excess deaths.” In their data on the coronavirus, CDC defines the aggregate “excess deaths” as the percent of weekly TOTAL deaths compared with the previous three years’ average deaths.

Clearly COVID-19 has increased the total deaths this year. I’ve included the weekly… Read More

He is vulgar, self-centered, and autocratic. He goes against everything we stand for and America represents. If we can just replace him, we can return to a sense of normalcy. This is what some Republicans say about President Trump. The problem with this statement is that it is far from the truth. If they were true it is because Democrats have caused the disruption and then pointed fingers at Trump.

The fact that there are Republicans who from day one disliked Mr. Trump for his manner is understandable. But these people call themselves “Republicans” or “Conservatives.” On or before January 19, 2017, that characterization of Trump would have floated. Nearly four years later they cannot justify their lack of support of Trump based solely on this premise. The policies Mr. Trump has affected have been more conservative than their hero Ronald Reagan.

The only policy of Republican orthodoxy President Trump has countered is enacting tariffs. The argument can be made they don’t work against Canada, but they are mainly aimed at China. The anti-Trumpers argue against the tariffs, but have had no answers for dealing… Read More

In 1989, I was sitting next to friend of mine, watching the news as the Berlin Wall was coming down. My friend was crying. He had been in the Army for 25 years, fought in Korea and Viet Nam, and every other skirmish in between. As he watched the wall come down, he said he felt like his fight for freedom, and the risks he had taken, had all been worth it. He was watching his life’s work achieve its goals.

In 1983, I began a political journey fighting for conservative causes that ended with me in the California Legislature fighting as best as I could for life, individual freedom, free enterprise and federalism. I never risked my life, but I did use all my knowledge, skills and energy to make the case for the things I believed in. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost, but today 35 years of fighting for those causes on the local, state, and national levels reached a major milestone.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett became Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and the importance of that event cannot be overstated. There are now 6 solid conservative Justices on the Supreme Court, 6 originalists, 6 believers in that the words of the Constitution are immutable, 6 of 9. There… Read More

The Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force provides recommendations in six areas of domestic policy which are a roadmap for what Biden and his team want to accomplish if he is elected president. Despite little discussion about public policy at their convention, this is a detailed plan for domestic policy. Today we will look at their plans for immigration called Creating A 21st Century Immigration System.

There are two parts of the plan, a 4-page narrative of what they want to do and then a 9-page description of their policy recommendations.

A note of interest: Much like the criminal justice system the problems are not at all from the immigrants or potential immigrants. Our system is the problem. The last two Republican presidents have wanted to reform the system and there was very little effort from the Democrats and it certainly was not a priority of the Obama-Biden Administration.

Here are some points of what they describe:

1. Trump put children in cages. Cages that were built and paid for and used by the Obama -Biden Administration. They never… Read More

This week, the Tax Foundation reported once again, California is one of the worst states in the country when it comes to its business climate. The state’s high taxes and enormous regulatory burden is disproportionately carried by the entrepreneurs, small businesses and independent contractors who lack the massive compliance departments of big companies like those which dominate Silicon Valley.

California needs to be rebalanced, and Republicans must summon the strength to do it. There is no alternative. There’s no magical taxpayer-friendly wing of the Democratic Party. No mystical non-partisan hero waiting in the wings. Ending one party rule in California can only come about with a Republican victory.

The nomination of a governor candidate in 2022 is central to the party’s success. Having served as the Republican nominee for Lt. Governor in 2014, I have seen first-hand the impact the top of the ticket has on our down-ballot prospects. Republicans swept almost all California statewide offices in 1994 on the strength of Gov. Pete Wilson’s re-election combined with… Read More